Press Release

This exhibition celebrates the exuberance of gesture and innovative abstraction that came to define a central tenet of Abstract Expressionism. Often a balancing act between unbridled spontaneity and careful forethought, this body of work highlights the dynamic action painting that defined a new era in abstraction. With the primacy of the painted surface called to order, American postwar art took center stage. With work by Robert Motherwell, Jack Tworkov, Hans Hofmann, Norman Bluhm, Sam Francis, and Mark Tobey, Gesture and Abstraction features paintings that explore unexpected color, vivid brushwork, and complex paint handling.